Tory Chancellor Sajid Javid was savaged for hijacking the spending round speech for “electioneering” in a day of high drama in the Commons.

Mr Javid said he was “turning the page of austerity” in his first major speech after being made financial chief by Boris Johnson .

But his speech was interrupted a number of times by MPs and the Speaker complaining he had veered off-topic, into election slogans, pleas for MPs to back the PM’s Brexit plan and attacks on the Labour Party.

And Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell branded the speech “grubby electioneering”.

After a lengthy section defending Johnson’s refusal to rule out a no-deal Brexit, now-ex-Tory big beast Ken Clarke shouted “what has this got to do with the spending round?”

Speaker John Bercow intervened in agreement, saying: “The opening remarks of the Chancellor were, frankly, out of order. That is the reality of the matter.”

He added: “The statement should be focused on and exclusively concerning the spending round.”

In his response, McDonnell said the speech was a “compendium of meaningless platitudes.”

He told Mr Javid to send a message back to Number 10 strategy guru Dominic Cummings, who he claimed was the brains behind the speech.

He said: “Do not insult the intelligence of the British people. The people will see today's statement as the grubby electioneering that it is."

McDonnell said the speech was “opinion poll politics”.

“The Tories have checked what are the top three or four issues in the polls,” he said.

“And they've cynically judged how little money they have to throw around to try and neutralise those issues and the concerns of people.

“To come here and to try and fool us with references to people's priorities is beyond irony.”

The spending plan for a single year was fast-tracked to clear the decks ahead of Brexit, with the normal multi-year settlement planned for next year.

In his statement, Mr Javid told MPs: "We are turning the page on austerity and beginning a new decade of renewal.

"A new economic era needs a new economic plan and today we lay the foundations with the fastest increase in day-to-day spending in 15 years."

The plan would add £13.4 billion to total public spending including £1.7 billion for capital spending.

"These extra funds take the real increase in day-to-day spending to £13.8 billion, or 4.1%," he said.

Measures announced by the Chancellor included:

• A promise that no Whitehall department will be cut next year, with all ministries having their budget for day-to-day spending increased at least in line with inflation
• Councils will have access to an additional £1.5 billion to fund social care next year
• A 6.3% real terms increase in Home Office spending, including £750 million for the already announced plan to recruit 20,000 police officers
• A 5% real-terms increase for the Ministry of Justice resource budget
• Funding to tackle homelessness will rise by 13%, an extra £54 million
• A £6.2 billion increase in NHS funding
• £2.2 billion for the Ministry of Defence
• £700 million to support children and young people with special educational needs
• £200 million to "transform bus services"
• £160 million for Scottish farmers who lost out under the allocation of Common Agricultural Policy funding
• £90 million for 1,000 diplomats and overseas staff and upgraded missions to help "seize the opportunities of Brexit" around the world.

Source: Read Full Article